Transition to toddler

I can't believe Jonathan is almost a year old!

Our focus these past few weeks has been shifting away from all things babyish. Jonathan's doing a lot of that himself. He is walking more and more each day - the current record is fifteen steps. He likes to pull up on something first, then take off walking. Once he drops on his butt, though, he doens't ever try to get back up. He's fast enough at crawling that he knows he can get where he's going on hands and knees. Chris and Jonathan like to play chase around the chair in the living room. Jonathan will chase after Chris for a few rounds, then stop and wait for Chris to lap him. Then he screams with laughter and turns around so that Chris can chase him.

We've been introducing more and more toddler-type foods as well. Jonathan starts most mornings now with a blueberry waffle. The nanny cuts it into bite-sized pieces for him, which he gravely assesses, picks up, and methodically eats. Most afternoon and evening meals start with some nifty star-shaped pieces of cheese I buy at the grocery store, all precut. He likes to admire the teeth marks after he bites off a piece. If Chris and I are hungry, we pull up Jonathan's high chair to the dining room table so he can eat with us. Last night he enjoyed several good-sized pieces of roast chicken, but he still declines chunks of avocado from our salads.

We think he's teething again - he spent most of yesterday in a cranky mood. There was copious drooling and he had his finger permanently tucked into his mouth. He has really developed a specifically cranky cry, which I suppose is a harbinger of toddler temper tantrums to come. I do feel bad that his gums are hurting him, but it is difficult not to giggle. He looks so absolutely and totally furious! It is a strange sight on such a darling little face.

Finally, he continues to show a love of dancing. We put him the playpen the other day while we ate our lunch and watched yet another episode of The Sopranos. He was mad to be stuck in the playpen - he wanted to see the sushi we were eating! But when the well-loved theme music came on, he got a big grin and started shaking his hips and bouncing. I took him out of the playpen and he held my hands while we danced standing up. He even picked up his feet a few times! The Electric Slide can't be far behind.